I Won't Lose Next Time
by Jfil5196
Summary: If there was one thing besides their heritage that binded them together, it was their love of combat. A series of duels and battles in which the descendants of Sparda bond through shared bloodshed. (Author's Note: This is my first foray into fanfiction writing, please leave reviews and constructive criticisms so that I know what to improve on, thank you.)
1. A Promise Kept

"Again."

Vergil's sharp command grates at Nero's already frayed nerves. He'd been sparring with his father in this abandoned warehouse in Red Grave City for three hours now. At first, he'd been a mixture of excited energy and nervous agitation at the prospect of getting to know his father when the Sons of Sparda returned from their months long sojourn in the Underworld after cutting down the Qliphoth and sealing the Underworld once more, but now the only thing he was feeling was the familiar rise of frustration and anger at having been bested once again.

He forces himself onto his knee, willing his demonic energies to knit flesh and bone back together after taking a particularly devious cut from his father's last attack. Despite the pain, or maybe because of, Nero smiles dryly to himself recalling his father's words on top of the Qliphoth months ago. Looks like he was keeping his word.

"Guess you really meant what you said, huh?" Nero calls out, more of statement than an actual question, his voice strained with fatigue but keeping it's trademark sarcastic bite.

"It would seem so. Perhaps your confidence was misplaced that day, son." Vergil replied coolly, his face still set in a stoic expression; his breathing easy and effortless.

Nero bristled at this, his brashness and temperment showing in his body language as he readied himself for another assault towards his father; his Red Queen settled on his shoulder ready to be swung with practiced ease. Without another word, he rushes in with a magnificent streak, the Red Queen's steel gleaming off the noon sun. As Nero had expected, Yamato quickly rises to block his attack; his father's two handed grip on his o-katana unwavering despite the force of Nero's strike and the weight of the Red Queen. For a split-second, both Father and Son were locked in a battle of wills, neither giving ground when suddenly Nero feels his weight shift forward with his sword suddenly swinging through nothing but air tinged with demonic energy.

"Shit!" Nero immediately finds himself mid-air, his movements a blur as he flips and narrowly dodges Vergil's downward slash. He barely gets room to breath before Vergil disappears again in a haze of blue energy before reappearing in a rush of slashes that catches Nero in the arm. In retaliation, Nero recovers with a breakfall before extending his spectral Bringer Claws in an attempt to immobilize his father. Vergil dodges his attempts, expertly warping in and out of reach before he suddenly hears the familiar thunderous roar of his son's revolver.

Nero watches as his father dodges his attempts at trapping him with practiced ease, feelings of awe and envy sitting deeply in his gut. Shaking those feelings away, he focuses on loading Blue Rose with his hand-loaded explosive rounds which Nico has affectionately referred to as his "Colour Up" rounds. He closes the chamber with a satisfying metallic click before taking aim, applying steady pressure on the trigger until his beloved revolver explodes with a fiery anger reminiscent of it's owner's own personality.

The resounding sound of explosive tipped magnum rounds hitting flesh and bone is something one does not immediately forget especially if they're in the business of demon hunting, still it gave Nero some sick, grim satisfaction that his shot had hit it's mark. The impact and following explosion from the dual rounds hitting his side sent Vergil flying into a concrete wall, his body cracking the wall he impacted on before he falls to the ground. Blood gushes from the two gaping holes where his left ribcage should've been and he struggles to stand back up, a small grimace the only visible crack on his usually stoic face as he forced his wounds to heal.

"Hm. I see, you've resorted to more..mundane methods," Vergil states with some contempt, no doubt disapproving of his son's use of firearms, "Well then, allow me to rebutt."

Allowing a quick second of concentration, Vergil was soon surrounded by six spectral facsimiles of his Father's old sword, three on each side of him all aimed at Nero. With a flicker of his mind, all six swords were sent flying with immense speed towards his son before he himself charged towards Nero, his Yamato ready to deliver a decisive strike that would cleanly cleave most demons in half. Channeling demonic power, he feels the world slow around him while his own speed increases, he can feel the taste of victor once again. He knows that when this strike hits, it'll force his son to yield once again.

However, instead of wetting Yamato's blade with blood, he finds himself striking air. He only allows himself a small moment of shock and slight confusion before he feels the air pressure near him change in an eerily familiar way and he tries to block what he knows is soon to be coming his way. The weight of Nero's Red Queen and the immense strength of his son's strike force Vergil back, nearly knocking the Yamato out of his hands. Nero uses this to his advantage, revving his sword's engine at the apex of his shuffle strike allowing the blade to be wreathed in flames.

Not wanting his gamble to go to waste, Nero immediately launches into a leaping strike that brings the full force of gravity and his flaming sword onto his Father. The resulting shockwave knocks the Yamato out of Vergil's hands, forcing him to dodge and weave his way out of Nero's striking range to subpar effect. The past two strikes were delivered with such intensity and strength that it shook Vergil to his bones and he had some trouble recovering from such an assault. This resulted in Vergil catching more cuts and lacerations on his person than he would've liked, including a particularly deep one on his chest that came with Nero's final strike that ended with him on his back.

"That's a point for me, Pops," Nero taunts, his beloved Uncle's influence on him evident in how grins at his father with an easy-going nature despite the intensity of their battle, "You up for another round?"

"No." was Vergil's succinct reply

"Oh.."

The sudden change in Nero's voice and demeanor forced Vergil to look up at his son which caused him to frown. His son's previous confident and easy-going attitude was now subdued, his shoulders slumped and his gaze averted. He knows he must've said something wrong for him to act this way, knowing his son's sensitivity to him and the subject of family in general. Racking his brain for an appropriate response before his son could take his prolonged silence the wrong way, Vergil decides to compliment his son on the one thing he knows intimately: combat.

"I do not wish to fight any longer today Nero, your swordsmanship and reflexes have improved enough for now. A warrior must rest if he is to continue to fight at his best in the long run." Vergil states, hoping that his words can sooth his son's pride.

It did the trick if the blush creeping up Nero's neck was any indication.

"Uh..yeah..thanks, Dad," Nero replies back, risking a look at his father, "You, uh, did pretty well too. Learned alot."

If Vergil was stunned by his son calling him "Dad" and complimenting him on his own swordplay then he didn't show it. With a nod towards Nero, he beckoned him closer as he opened a portal to Fortuna with the Yamato. Ushering Nero in first, Vergil allowed himself a small smile towards his son's back, letting the blossoming warmth and pride in his chest fill him with contentment as they made their way home.


	2. A Challenge Accepted

It was already mid-afternoon by the time Nero enters his Uncle's shop. He was supposed to meet his father and uncle here so they could discuss their plan for a nest extermination job they had taken a couple days prior. Normally, jobs like this would rarely require both Dante and Vergil to complete so Nero thought it was odd that Dante had called on him for his assistance, still, the prospect of a fight was always something he found hard to turn down. Thankfully, business in Fortuna was slow and the money he and Nico had earned helping "clean up" left over demons from the Qliphoth would keep Kyrie and the kids financially stable for the next handful of months, so Nero felt secure that he could leave them to their own devices for the time being without the usual worry that always came over him everytime he had to travel from the Isles for work.

Taking a look around, Nero noted that despite the usual wear and tear of the old building, the cleanliness of the place had improved despite Dante's tendency to not clean up after himself. Must've been his father's doing, he thought to himself, that and the girls; he knew Trish and Lady disliked Dante's messes just as much. The soft rock playing from the old jukebox and the orange glow from the sun sifting in through the blinds gave the office a quiescent atmosphere which stood in stark contrast to the demon trophies that were decorating the walls, still this place was his second home and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"You done gawkin'?" an airy, familiar voice said, "It's not like you've never been here before."

Stirred out of his thoughts, Nero finds the source of said voice languidly coming down the stairs, his uncle apparently just having gotten out of the a shower if his damp, silver hair was any indication.

"Hey old man," the disconcerted look on his uncle's face made him cackle inwardly, "Where's everybody at?"

"Vergil's out getting more info from our client," Dante replies, making his way over to the fridge, no doubt looking for some left over pizza, "Lady and Trish are having a spa day, decided they needed to treat themselves."

While Dante busies himself with scrounging for his pizza, Nero leans his armament case against a nearby wall and takes a seat on the old couch which has surprisingly been a mainstay in Dante's office despite the abuse the shop has gotten over the years. A satisfied grunt from somewhere to the right of him signified that his uncle had finally found his afternoon snack. With pizza in hand, Dante makes his way over to his desk with characteristic flair and makes himself comfortable with his legs eventually finding their usual place on said desk.

Rolling his eyes at his uncle, he decides to poke fun at him, "Y'know I'm surprised you can still move like that considering your old joints have probably developed arthritis by now."

Slowly diverting his gaze from the Guns'n'Babes magazine he was currently perusing, Dante sees the challenging glint and mischievous smirk gracing his nephew's face. Never one to back down from a challenge, a grin finds it's way onto his face.

"Says the kid who recently just hit demonic puberty. Is that why your voice cracks all the time now?" Dante snarks back, eyes crinkling in good humor at the familiar banter between them.

"Tch. Sure weren't in a mood to crack jokes back at that stupid demon tree," Nero shoots back, his smirk having now turned into a full-blown grin not unlike the one his uncle was sporting, "Your jaw still hurt, Grandpa?"

At that, Dante barks out a laugh, rocking back in his chair; his pizza having now been forgotten in the wake of some good ol' family bonding. Feeling his uncle's mirth, Nero couldn't help but chuckle himself; both men content to laugh and enjoy each other's company.

"Whoa, careful with the insults Nero, you're delving into some deadweight territory here." Dante replies back, doing his best to come off as casual and dismissive as possible, knowing full well what he was doing; his eyes were now back on to his magazine, slight smirk playing at his lips.

A pregnant pause.

A sudden change in the air.

A spark of demonic energy.

Dante barely tricks above and away from the spectral claw that was now embedded into his desk. Using the wall behind him as a springboard, Dante flips gracefully back down to the floor and swipes Eva's photo in a dash of blurred movement, placing it on a nearby windowsill.

"Whoa, careful kid! This photo's pretty important y'know," Dante states, his tone flippant as if his now ticked off nephew didn't just try to leave an imprint of his face on his desk, "You seem angry. Was it something I said?"

"Oh you asked for it, asshole," was Nero's clipped response. He was still seated on the couch, spectral claw emanating from his shoulder, his body leaning forward aggressively, "You wanna go there? Cuz we can go there."

"Interesting proposition, but how about we take this outside? Catch me if you can, kid!"

With that, Dante bursts out from his shop doors laughing, trademark grin once more plastered on his face as he prepares for the upcoming fight that he definitely didn't ask for. He stops at the alley across the street, turning back to see if Nero was still on his tail. He didn't have to wait for long before he heard the familiar, furious rumbling of an engine revved to it's maximum output.

A streak of brilliant, white-hot flames rushed out of his shop, Nero at the epicenter of this man-made firestorm. The resulting heatwave set some of the surrounding area on fire and destroyed pieces of the building surrounding the alley, debris flying outwards in all directions but despite the show of destruction his target was still unharmed and more importantly, unperturbed.

"Whoo! Barely rolled out of the way of that one kid!" Dante says, as he brushes off ash and debris from his faded, leather trenchcoat.

"How unfortunate." Nero replies back with heavy sarcasm, a hard glint in his eyes. Despite the relative calmness in Nero's voice, Dante noted that the Red Queen was held downwards in a white-knuckle grip, the muscles in his nephew's forearm flexed and strained.

"Hm. Seem to be forgetting something..oh yeah, that's right." with a flicker of his mind, Dante summons his Devil Sword in a burst of sparks and embers into his hand, the dark blade striking an imposing figure in it's wielders capable hand.

Deciding to further tease his nephew, Dante plants his blade into the ground and assumes a familiar stance. Nero's irritation and anger rises even further once he realizes what his Uncle is doing now.

Revving an imaginary engine and with the best impersonation of his nephew's scowl he could manage, Dante mimics Nero's words during their first duel in Fortuna's Opera House.

"Hey! What's the point of packing a sword like that if ya ain't even gonna use it?!"

"Oh, that's it!"

His frustration finally boiling over, Nero springs into action once more. Leaping forward into the air, he brings down his heavily modified kriegmesser in a crushing strike that Dante blocks with his demon-forged zweihander. Disengaging from the blade lock, Nero uses the short lull in the duel to de-materialize his right arm into energy before equipping an Overture Devil Breaker that he had clipped onto his belt.

Meanwhile, Dante takes this opportunity to whip out his twin handguns and let's loose a maelstrom of steel aimed at Nero. Leaping towards an adjacent wall, he narrowly misses the opportunity to become a block of swiss cheese and before Dante could fire off another volley of steel rain, Nero answers back with his own revolver.

The Blue Rose cracks like thunder amidst the city noise, and the ground where Dante had been standing mere seconds ago crumbles against the lightning strike of explosive rounds hammered into it. The storm continues with two more thunderous roars and Dante decides that trying to dodge steel-core, explosive projectiles flying at supersonic speeds in an alley is an incredibly bothersome activity. Switching tactics, Dante stands his ground against the coming onslaught, channeling demonic power into a near-invisible barrier in front of him. At the last possible second, Dante blocks Nero's shots with his barrier absorbing the energy of the impact, the bullets stopping dead in their tracks and falling harmlessly to the asphalt.

Deciding that it was time to go on the offensive, Dante summons his blade back into his hands and closes the distance with a lunging strike. Nero always found it hard to block or parry thrusting strikes but that didn't deter him from trying to sidestep his uncle's attack, planning to parry his blade and counterattack when his side is exposed. Having expected this, Dante goes with the forward momentum of Nero parrying his blade downwards and transitions smoothly into a breakfall before Nero can hit him with the full force of Overture's electric burst. Using the resulting debris of Nero's attack hitting a building wall as a smoke-screen, Dante drives the pommel of his blade into Nero's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him before flip kicking him in the jaw with a resounding crack.

Stunned by the unconventional counter to his parry, Nero barely had time to recover before Dante was upon him once more. His uncle didn't have the same level of speed and precision with his strikes that his father did, but that was off-set by the fact that Dante put more force into his attacks with each blocked strike sending numbing vibrations along his arm. Unwilling to let up on the pressure, Dante accompanies his final strike with the sudden appearance of four crimson, spectral swords slashing at Nero just as Dante breaks through his guard.

Sent flying out of the alley, Nero ends up in the middle of the vacant street. He hears his uncle's laugh as the man launches himself out of the alley wreathed in lightning. He realizes a second too late that his uncle was about to run him through with an electrified, demon bike. The bladed battering ram sinks into his torso, tearing flesh and bone; the lightning chars his body, the pain excruciating. Suddenly he feels himself being held up as his uncle pops a wheelie, grinding the buzzsaw tire into him before the bike gets flipped into the air with him on it. The last thing he sees and feels before the bike de-materializes is a black blade slashing into him repeatedly before slamming him down to the Earth below.

Dante lands back down with effortless ease at the end of his assault, observing the small crater that Nero made when he crash landed back to the ground. A few moments pass before Dante thinks he might've overdone it, apparently overestimating his nephew's newfound power.

"Uh..hey kid! You okay?" Dante calls out, trying to hide his unease at the possibility that he might have done actual, serious damage to Nero.

"..yeah." was Nero's weak reply from within the crater. Taking a moment to sit up, Nero triggers in a flash of brilliant, blue light; his form changing, transforming into his inner Devil.

"Geez, old man. Remind me not to get on your bad side. Can't believe I actually had to trigger to get these wounds healed." Nero grimaces, his voice distorted; he feels the shredded remains of his torso slowly meshing back together.

A small laugh from Dante.

"Please, that bitch slap still hurts worse," Dante states humorously, "But I guess we're even now."

"Well, would you look at that. You can count. And father said you were bad at it." Nero replies back, fake disbelief coloring his voice.

Another chorus of laughter, this time from both men.

Moments later he finds himself back in top shape and, after accepting Dante's hand in getting up, makes his way back into the shop with his uncle's arm draped over his shoulders; the both of them laughing at something the other said. Nero finds himself smiling despite the beating he just took, content that he has a family like this. Family that can understand not just his human half, but his devil half as well. After all, the Sons of Sparda both understood what it was like to live as a union between two worlds, but not finding much acceptance in either.

Walking into the shop, they were met by the ice-blue eyes of Vergil who was patiently waiting for them sitting stock-still on the remains of the ruined desk.

"Now that you two fools have had your fun, we need to discuss this plan which I need to remind you, Nero, was the main reason for your being here."

"Ah, come on, brother. We wer-.."

"Enough, Dante," Vergil turns his winter's gaze on Nero, "We will speak of this later, son."

Nero can tell by the frost in his father's voice and the emotionless mask of his face that he most definitely will get another 3 hours of "instructive sparring" after this job, though he doubts his dad will go easier on him this time for the sake of proper instruction.

"..Great."


End file.
